The Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations are about to be amended to reflect a very important change that will definitely affect spousal sponsorships and adoptions.

The current legislation assesses the genuineness and true intentions of the partiesto a sponsorship application based on a two-tied test: a marriage/adoption is not to be considered for the purposes of Canadian immigrationif it is not genuine AND was entered into primarily for the purpose of acquiring any status or privilege. In other words, to reject a sponsorship application, both aspects need to be present. 

Accordingto the proposed amendments, an immigration officer will be allowed to refuse a case if either of the aspects is met. So far, a relationship and a consequent sponsorship application that was entered primarily for the purposes of acquiring status in Canada, could still be approved provided that the relationship was found to be genuine whereas as soon as the amendments are implemented this kind of relationships and sponsorships will likely be refused.

The amendments will most likely affect a group of people from certain regions of the world where arranged marriages are a cultural norm. And despite the fact that the immigration authorities commit themselves to processing these kinds of applications cautiously and carefully, being aware ofthe need to facilitate family reunification, the applicants’ burden to prove that the relationship is genuine is going to increase in the nearest future.